After a brief conversation in front of the emergency room, Schubelez went outside for a cigarette, and Kane followed.

"Could it be Captain, your addiction to smoking was also developed at that time?"

"Yes, I was a good young man who didn't smoke or drink, but I was really depressed at that time."

"And then? Why are you like this? ”

Schuberuz took the lit cigarette in his mouth and spit it out.

"I always thought it was a bear child, a bad-tempered little girl, until that day, I learned about her job, and her parents."

In the year 133, the second year of the escort mission, one morning, Schubertz drove Tarina to the institute. Usually it is sent by subordinates, but today the person in charge of driving asked for temporary leave, and Schubertz could not find anyone to replace him for a while, so he reluctantly went into battle on his own.

The journey to the institute was dreary, and the air in the car seemed to be thin. An adult and a child, one looking in front and the other looking out the window, did not have a word of dialogue with each other. The car had not gone far when the bored Schuberuz took out his cigarette.

"Don't smoke next to me." Taleni exclaimed.

Schubelez ignored it, continued to light the cigarette, and before he could take a puff, he was snatched by Tarini and thrown out of the window in the blink of an eye.

"You!"

"What are you? Drive well! ”

Choked by Tarini, Schuberuz was about to have a seizure, only to find that the car was driving in the opposite direction, so he had to swallow his anger and insist on driving the car to the research institute. As soon as the car stopped, Taleni pushed the door and got out of the car, without even closing the door.

"Damn imp......"

Schubertz complained and went to close the door, then pulled out his cigarette again, he planned to go back after having a good time, anyway, there was time.

The cigarette soothed Schubelez's mood, and he leaned into the car and looked around. The parking lot of the institute was almost full, and many people were walking into a building that looked like an auditorium, dressed in colorful clothes. They don't look like researchers, more like they're here to visit. From their conversation, Schubelez occasionally heard Talenny's name, as well as words of appreciation.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Schüberaz Kalchi?"

Schuberuz turned around, and a well-dressed couple was standing in front of him smiling, and he quickly threw away the cigarette in his hand.

"It's me, who are the two of you?"

The man held out his hand: "My name is Duvin Donner, this is my wife Lena, and we are Tarini's parents. I've heard your subordinates talk about you before, but they've never seen you. I heard that you sent Tarini to work today, so I came to say hello. ”

It turned out to be Tarini's parents. Schubelez had always entrusted the work of guarding to his subordinates, and he hardly asked, and Duvine and Lena had only heard the names. He shook hands with Du Wen embarrassedly.

"I'm ashamed, the two of you are here to accompany Tarini today?"

"Yes, today is the open day of the institute, where," Du Wen said, pointing to the "auditorium", "there is a venue of the institute, there are several lectures of a popular science nature, and there are various achievements displayed, and Tarini will be very busy at this time." It just so happened that Mr. Karchi also went to see what happened. ”

Schuberates was not interested in science, but he was very enthusiastic, and there was nothing to do today - in fact, there was nothing important this year - so he followed the couple into the venue.

After sitting in the venue for a while, the audience was almost there, and the speaker came to the stage to announce that the content of today's speech was about solid-state EXP energy conversion. When the celebrant said Tarina's name, the audience burst into thunderous applause, much to Schubelaz's surprise.

Tallinee stepped up to the podium, not unlike what Schubeluz usually saw, wearing a white lab coat from the Institute, standing behind the lectern, where a wooden step had been specially added for her so that her short body could be exposed.

"Welcome, I'm the representative of Group A of the Solid-State EXP Research Project of Research Institute 4 - Tarini. Today, I will give you a comprehensive introduction, and I hope that these new discoveries can bring you surprises and expectations. ”

The girl's tone was gentle and elegant, and it was evident that she often spoke in front of everyone. Next, she explained to the audience about the energy conversion of solid-state EXP in simple terms.

To Schubelez's surprise, this obscure knowledge, after being skillfully processed in Tarini's language, is as easy to accept as melt-in-your-mouth food. Even he, a layman who has never been in contact with the field of scientific research, can understand a lot.

"It turns out that she's not just a little girl." Schuberoz muttered to himself.

"Hehe, does Mr. Kalchi feel the same way? When I first saw her like this, I was just as surprised. Du Wen said with a smile.

"Didn't you know she was doing this before?"

Du Wen nodded and said, "It's not a secret, in fact, our husband and wife have no normal fertility. ”

"Natarini, she ......"

"Eleven years ago, a year before Tarini was born, the Fourth Institute recruited volunteers to be IVF parents. Lena and I always wanted to have children, so we enlisted. ”

"We registered in February, but we didn't expect the results to be in July." Lena continued.

Schuberuz had the feeling of overhearing someone else's secret and didn't know how to answer.

"And then, there's Tarini." Duvin said.

"Yes, we were all excited when she was born," Lena said happily as she thought back to the past, but her expression darkened a little, "but we lived with her for less than a year, and she was taken away by the institute and didn't come back for days." ”

"We didn't live in Mondogama, but in order to see the children, we came with us several times and looked for a hotel to stay, often for weeks at a time." "After several discussions, the institute agreed to let the child go home for a few more days. ”

"From that point on, Tarini went back and forth between the institute and her home, and we never saw her. The people at the institute said that everything was arranged for Tarini, and we didn't need to worry about living or going to school. At this, Lena shook her head.

Schuberuz listened attentively, and he couldn't help but think that there was something wrong with it.

"It's like giving them a piece of experimental material."

Du Wen sighed: "That kid is a genius, he became famous when he was only four or five years old, of course we are very happy. But no matter how we say it, her parents can't stay with her for long all year round. She deals with a bunch of adults all day long, and she doesn't even have a friend to talk to, and there's nothing we can do about it. ”

Duven suddenly took Schubelez's hand and said in a tone of please.

"Mr. Karchi, we would like to ask you to help this child."

"Me?"

Lena said, "You can be the child's bodyguard, I think it's also a kind of fate." You usually have more opportunities to see her than us, and I hope you can communicate with her more so that she can grow up happily. ”

"After all, we want happy children, not mechanical geniuses." Duvin said.

After listening to this plea, Schubelez turned his eyes to Taleni, who was still speaking, and the girl in his eyes became different.

When a person grows up in this environment, it is a kind of loneliness that cannot be spoken. But what Tarini showed was optimism and strong feelings.

Compared with himself in the past year, Schuberuz couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"Speaking of which, I'm not as conscious as a child."

The presentation is over. Taleni swept the smile on the stage and walked out sullenly. As soon as he left the door, two researchers followed him.

"Tallini, hard work, take a break, there's a report meeting in a while."

"Hmmm......"

The girl reluctantly agreed, tired of it. It's not that the report will be impossible without her, but because she is young and can use the aura of "genius" to attract more audiences, the institute has to ask her to come forward. With this time, she wanted to do something else.

But when you think about it, you don't seem to have much to do.

"Wait a minute."

Schubelaz appeared from the side and stood in front of the researcher and Tarina, leaving the three stunned. The researcher unceremoniously asked him about his identity, and Tarini was even more angry when she saw this "nemesis".

"What are you doing here?"

Ignoring Tarini's words, Schubertz said to the two researchers, "Go back and tell your head that Tarina can't attend any events today, and that she has other arrangements." ”

"What arrangement? Who are you? ”

"Captain of the second detachment of the Thunder Army's independent operation, Schuberuz Karchi, Tarina's bodyguard. Today we have new soldiers in our team, and we need to meet with them and get acquainted with each other in order to better carry out the escort mission. ”

This is, of course, nonsense, and neither researcher believes it. "Isn't he just a bodyguard? How can your matter matter as much as ours? Besides, you, a bodyguard, have the right to do this? ”

"Well, then, how about letting Tarinee decide?" Schubertz said, and then asked Tarina, "Tell me, do you want to go to a briefing, or do you want to come with me?" ”

The sudden scene overwhelmed Tarini, she looked left and right, and timidly asked, "What do you want?" ”

Schubertz replied very seriously: "I am a bodyguard, and it is part of my task to meet your requests." As long as you bring it up, I will do my best. ”

With these words, the hesitant Tarini finally mustered up the courage and shouted loudly to the two researchers.

"I don't want to go to the report meeting! I'm going to rest! ”

The two were dumbfounded. "That's it," said Schubelez, "she spoke, and as a bodyguard I had to obey. Let's go. ”

This was the first time that Schubeluz had taken the initiative to reach out to Tarina, and it was also the first time that Tarina had taken the initiative to respond, and what else did the two researchers say, Schubeluz turned around and raised his bandaged right hand.

"You should know the name of the second detachment. If you want to be hard, I will never be soft. ”

These words frightened the two of them, and Schuberz took the opportunity to pull Tarinie away, got into the car, and disappeared after a while.

This time, instead of having a bitter face like in the morning, Tarini laughed, opened the window, stuck her head out of the window, and looked excitedly at the scenery outside.

"Are you happy?" Schuberoz asked.

"Hmm!" Tarini replied casually, and she immediately realized that she couldn't surrender so quickly, "Ah, don't get me wrong! It's not that my impression of you has changed! ”

"Good, good." Schubertz said with a smile, thinking that this child is quite stubborn, but it's okay, he can accompany her slowly.

Anyway, there is time.

*****

The results of Tarini's examination came back and there was no major problem except for a wound on her head. After dealing with it, the girl was still not very awake, dizzy, and quickly fell asleep. Schuberuz and Kane sent Talenny home and left her to recuperate on the bed in her room. Today, Duvine and Lena don't come back from overtime, and Kane decides to stay with Tarina.

"You stay and watch, I'll withdraw first." Schubelez said.

"And then?" Kane asked.

"Later? We got on good terms, and then I met you. Before I knew it, I no longer cared about the timing of this mission, and the fate of our second detachment. I took the time to convince the others, and they understood a little bit, and they were all friends with Tarini. ”

Looking at the sleeping beauty on the bed, Schubelez smiled comfortingly.

"It's her who makes me irritable, but it's also her who changes my irritable mood."

"She changed you?"

"yes. So, I don't know why you have such a question today, but do you think it matters? ”

Who Talleyne is, who she is, yes, it doesn't matter. Kane understands that Tarini is Taleni, a tsundere, stubborn, temperamental, but strong girl. She saved herself once in Larvega, and she's a ...... Someone special, isn't that enough?

"I see, Captain Schuberuz."

"That's good, I'm leaving."

*****

In a building on the west side of the Fourth Research Institute, Ter was busy in his dedicated laboratory. He walked from place to place, tweaking the machines he thought were not sounding right. After a few back and forth, he sat down in a chair.

There were two computers side by side on the table, and Ter's left and right hands were on the two keyboards, crackling. His eyes were on the left and right monitors at the same time, and his hands were in their own movements. This efficient operation lasted for more than ten minutes, until the doorbell rang in the laboratory and the sound of a walkie-talkie on the table was heard.

"Director, are you there?"

"What's the matter?"

"Just now Mr. Karchi called, and Tarini was attacked."

Ter's hands stopped abruptly: "How is she?" ”

"The injury is not serious, but he has been unconscious and is being examined in the hospital."

"Got it."

After answering, Terr's hands moved again, as if nothing had happened. After a while, the voice outside came again.

"You...... Don't you want to check it out? ”

"I'm busy, so you can go too."

"But the director ......"

There was only noise coming from the intercom next to the door, and no one answered. The researcher had to leave. It would be a lie to say that he wasn't worried about Tarini, but now Ter had more things to do right away.

Bang Bang –

When the enter key is pressed, the intruder opens up the interface that Tel wants to see on the right monitor. His fingers pressed against the screen, helping him to read quickly. Time was limited, and he had to read it before anyone noticed the invasion and keep it in his head.

Much of this was expected by Ter, confirming his long-standing doubts. The more he looked, the more convinced he was that there was more inside story behind the assassination of Tarini. It's a pity that he only watched it for less than three minutes, and the intrusion program reminded that the hacked computer began to patch the vulnerability, and someone found him.

He immediately logged out, wrote a protection program to the computer he used to hack, and used another computer to modify the login address here, again with both hands, and he did it in a minute, making sure that the computer would not be tracked, before leaning back in his chair and resting.

"Plan K ......"

He muttered, connecting the pieces of his mind together.

“…… Definitely, to figure it out. ”

*****

Seeing off Schubelez, Kane returns to Tarini's room. The girl had just woken up and was leaning back on the pillow to clear her head.

"You're awake."

"Hmm...... This is, my room? ”

"yes, are you still a little confused?"

"It's a bit of a headache."

"I'll go get you something to drink."

"Hmm."

Kane opened the door and was about to leave, but Tarini let out a cry of pain, and fell on the bed with her head in her hands, her whole body curled up.

"Head, head, pain...... Yes! ”

"Tarini! What happened to you? Cheer up! ”

Kane doesn't know what to do, he was fine in the hospital just now, why did he suddenly have a headache? Is the wound cracked? It doesn't hurt so much. He was thinking about what to do, but he saw something even more surprising.

The weeping blood leaning against the corner of the wall actually glowed red. It's just that the light is very unstable, strong and weak, like a patient with breathing disorders. And Talini's screams are also one after another, and these two situations completely mess up Kane's position, and he decides to send Taleni back to the hospital.

"No, no need......"

Tarini lay on her side on the bed, panting constantly, the headache stopped, she returned to normal, Kane was also relieved, and then he saw that the knife, which was still glowing just a moment ago, had also changed back to its original appearance.

Anyway, these two things are too synchronous, is it a coincidence? Kane didn't think about it, he helped Tarini back to her back and went to bring her another cup of hot water.

"Does it still hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt anymore, but it's still confused."

"So, get up and walk around?"

"No, just talk to me."

Tarini, who had a headache, rested at home for a day, lost her appetite and didn't eat much at noon. It wasn't until it was dark that I remembered to have dinner. Kane stayed with her, chatting with her, and Tarini said she wanted to eat, and he immediately went to the kitchen to prepare.

Kane, who was alone in the kitchen, remembered what had happened in the morning, and his heart was knotted again. After much thought, he dialed Schuberuz's phone and told him what had happened.

"Really?"

"At least to be sure, the reaction of the knife is synchronized with Tarine's headache, appearing and disappearing together."

There was silence on the other side of the phone, and Schubelez's extremely serious voice came: "Kane, do you remember the characteristics of this knife?" ”

"Yes."

"Then there may be something hidden here."

*****

Four years ago, shortly after Kane joined the second team, he met Ter under the introduction of Schubelez, and also talked about the battle with Cambay, the light of the blade. With great interest, Ter took Kane's knife - weeping blood - and studied it for a few days, and soon determined that it was a reinforced EXP weapon. From the point of view of workmanship, it has been quite a few years.

The so-called EXP weapon is a weapon that incorporates EXP, which is roughly divided into offensive and enhanced. The aggressive type uses EXP as a means of attack, while the enhanced type focuses on improving the body's strength.

For example, the blade of Crying Blood contains an active EXP similar to that possessed by a super person. According to the structure, this EXP will react to the user's angry emotions and be activated, which in turn will affect the user, making them more aggressive. When the emotion reaches its peak, the blade's EXP is fully activated, emitting a blood-red glow that envelops the user's body and brings supernormal power. Reflected in the battle, the reaction speed and attack strength have been significantly improved.

As a way for natural people to fight against superhumans, the production of EXP weapons has been around for more than a thousand years, when forgers mastered the technology of extracting EXP from the body of superhuman beings to create EXP weapons, many of which were divine weapons that played a huge role in battle.

But later, with the advent and destruction of Astaroth, the superhuman has less and less influence on the world. Many superhuman beings began to hide their identities, and extracting EXP from superhuman bodies was gradually seen as an inhumane practice. As a result, the blacksmiths had fewer and fewer sources of EXP, and the production of EXP weapons stagnated for a while.

Around the time of the outbreak of the War of the Century, the technology of extracting EXP from the natural environment was developed, and as a result, a large number of EXP weapons were used in the war. Since then, the development of EXP weapons has been a major focus of EXP research, and it was not until the ban was issued that the enthusiasm gradually subsided.

However, now, the EXP research environment is more relaxed than in the past, and many people have refocused their research on EXP weapons.

Enhanced EXP weapons are preferred because they are usually used by natural persons, and since offensive EXP weapons can easily consume the user and cause them to react uncomfortably once they have an energy surge. Although the development cost is huge and it is difficult to succeed, it can bring great combat effectiveness, so there are still many people who are committed to it.

Of course, energy is conserved, and the enhanced EXP weapon does not give power to people in vain, it is more like a stimulant that will cost the user. In the case of Kane, if he triggers the emotion of the apex, that is, the state of being wrapped in blood-red light, his whole body will be demobilized after the battle, as if the vitality of the cells has been drained, and it will take a long time to recover. So, Kane controlled his emotions every time he fought and only broke out when necessary, and it just so happened that Cambay taught him how to do it.

Speaking of which, if Crying Blood reacted to Tarini's headache, there were only two possibilities: it was a reaction to normal use, or there were EXP fluctuations around it that caused Crying Blood to resonate abnormally. At that time, Taleni did not touch the knife at all, so there was only one possibility.

Tarini, or rather Tarini has EXP fluctuations when she has a headache.

"What to do, Captain?"

"There's only one person who can explain it, you take care of Tarini, I'll ask him."

Shubeluz, who put down the phone, immediately rushed out of the dormitory.

"You're going to have to explain it to me today, Tel!"

*****

Kane made some tart and burgers that Tarini liked to eat, and the doorbell rang as he carefully placed them on his plate.

He thought it was Schubeluz, but when he opened the door, he was greeted by a group of people from the institute. The one in the front wore glasses, and he was followed by several soldiers with guns.

"Kane Ereda, is it?" The bespectacled man asked.

"It's me, who are you?"

"Banderru Thatch Minar, Fourth Institute. Is Tarinee here? We're going to take her. ”

"Take away? Where to take her? ”

"It's none of your business." Minar replied coldly.

Kane didn't budge: "I'm her bodyguard, I have to follow her wherever she goes, and I have the right to know her schedule." ”

"That's good, that's good."

Minar said, taking a piece of paper from a soldier behind him and unfolding it in front of Kane.

"See clearly, this is an order issued by the headquarters of the Thunder Army. From now on, Kane Ireda's escort duty was relieved and he returned to the 2nd Independent Operations Detachment to participate in other tasks of the 2nd detachment. ”

Kane couldn't believe his ears, he leaned forward and took a closer look, yes, this is the content, and it also has the seal of the Thunder Army on it.

"What's going on? I withdrew the rest of the team before, and now even I have withdrawn? ”

"Got it? Tarini has nothing to do with you now, get out of the way. ”

Pushing Kane away, Minar was about to go in with the soldiers.

"Stop!"

Kane, who shouted, turned around and stopped in front of everyone, kicked up the weeping blood on the chair, grabbed it firmly, and immediately slashed it. The two soldiers behind Minar immediately stepped forward and pointed their guns at Kane.

"What are you doing, Kane? Do you want to disobey orders? Minar asked.

"She was attacked today, and she had a headache to death during the day! Now that your mood has just stabilized, you don't care about her, so where are you going to take her? Let her do what? What did you think of her all along!? ”

Kane's anger burned rapidly, and the blood-red light of weeping blood was already clearly visible.

"A scientist, that's all."

"She's a girl! It's people! It's not your props! You don't want to take her today! ”

The hysterical Kane placed the knife at his waist, stepped away, and took a posture of drawing the knife. Minar shook his head helplessly.

"Then don't blame us for being rude. Do it. ”

"Wait a minute!"

At some point, Tarini came out of the inner room, breaking the tense situation. She changed into the blue and white dress she loved to wear, and she walked a little shaky, obviously not fully recovering.

"Talline," Kane hurriedly ran over and grabbed Tarny's arm, "Go back, they must not be well." ”

"I know, but Kane, now I have to go with them."

"But I ......"

"Please, Kane, I don't want to bother you!"

Tarine's words had a special magic effect on Kane, who obediently let go of his hand and stopped standing in his way. The girl caressed Kane's face and stared, as if to say her final goodbyes.

"Kane, why are you protecting me?"

"Because...... We're friends......" Kane replied in a low voice.

The girl smiled sweetly: "Then I will be relieved." As a reward for your efforts until now, this one is for you. ”

In Kane's hand was a silver-white key.

"What is this?"

"I'm sure Kane will protect me to the end, so if something happens to me, take this with you to save me."

As she said this, the girl stood on tiptoe, her lips pressed to Kane's ear, and her soft voice passed every word to Kane, and the others did not hear clearly.

"It's almost time, Tarini, let's go." Minar, who watched the two whispering, urged.

"Got it."

Tarini melted into the crowd, and the crowd moved away from Kane. Kane looked at the key in his hand and sat down.

The question he hadn't intended to think about anymore came back to his mind. Taleni, who was regarded as a genius scientist and was isolated and cultivated since childhood, only lived for scientific research, the reason why she had such an unfortunate fate may be her biggest secret. And now, there is only one person who knows this secret and is willing to tell him.

Kane stood up, picked up the weeping blood, went out to find his car, and went straight to the TV tower.